Chennai, Nov 15 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu government is planning to monetise the assets owned by religious institutions under the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR&CE) department.

The state government recently floated a tender for selecting an agency for the preparation of a roadmap on the matter. The Tamil Nadu government has found in a study that the assets owned by the religious institutions are not properly utilised and several properties owned by the HR&CE department are subject to encroachments.

The government pointed out that 38,652 Hindu and Jain religious institutions are under the control of the HR&CE department. The government maintained that it is involved in the administration of the religious institutions and charitable endowments to enable their religious autonomy, financial viability and sustained development.

It may be noted that the temples own large parcels of land comprising commercial, residential and agricultural categories. These properties are located in the municipal corporations, municipalities, town panchayats and village panchayats.

The ownerships of the properties would remain with the concerned religious institutions, but the development rights for a specific period are being proposed to be offered to the developers. The income generated through this development could be used for the maintenance of the respective temples.

A consultancy agency would soon be appointed for the preparation of a roadmap for the monetisation process of all the 38,652 Hindu and Jain religious institutions that are under the control of the HR&CE department.